Identity verification is critical for various transactions or activities, such as transactions of age-restricted merchandise or access control activities for certain restricted areas. In a traditional fashion, a sales clerk or gate keeper can manually check an identification document of an individual who is involved in a transaction or wants to have access to a restricted area. Unfortunately, manual verification can be a time-consuming process and can be subject to inaccuracies due to human errors.
One way to overcome the problems with manual identification checks is to utilize an automatic scanning system that can quickly scan and accurately verify an identification document. However, various jurisdictions have different rules and regulations regarding the scanning of identification documents and the retention of information gained from the scans. For example, some jurisdictions may prohibit retention or dissemination of information retrieved from identification documents by electronic scans, while other jurisdictions may allow the same. For entities having activities in multiple jurisdictions, it is cumbersome and difficult to comply with all applicable rules and regulations in all jurisdictions where they operate. In addition, not every individual or business entity is capable of keeping track of related rules (not to mention corresponding updates) in various jurisdictions. As a result, many companies err on the side of caution and do not use or store much of the information that can be obtained from an identification document. Alternatively, some companies may manually enter information that is read from a document, which is prone to errors, rather than rely on a scan. Both solutions are sub-optimal from the standpoint of the business operator.